Saturday, August 23, 2008

Last Report from Speedweek

August 23rd – end of the roadWell, we have reached the end of the road for this edition of Speedweek.After two unsuccessful attempts to start the vehicle between 1 and 2 pm, we eventually returned to the pits and found humidification pump and hydrogen leak faults. The former was fixed quickly, but the latter, after a substantial amount of "sniffing" for H2 with the appropriate instrument, turned out to be a stack leak which, unlike a leak caused by a fitting or hose, cannot be fixed here on the Salt.

So here is my final report, with some of the firsts achieved by the BB2 this August at Bonneville:

585 kW delivered by the stacks – most power ever delivered by an automotive fuel cell.

The BB2 team is grateful to the many sponsors of this effort for making all of these accomplishments possible.To date, 55 private, non-profit and public organizations and individuals have contributed to this project. The team could not have come close to these results without so much help from so many.

Last, and most important, we have been able to do this because of the dedication, capability, and creativity of the best damn students in the land. We are all proud to be a part of The Ohio State University, and grateful for the freedom and latitude we have been given throughout this project.

Can you put a Li-ion power pack in the Buckeye Bullet 2 and race it again this 08 October? With that 740HP Tesla AC induction motor you are sure to exceed 400MPH. All of you did a wonderful thing! Thanks.

Buckeye Bullet

The student run team is based out of the Center for Automotive Research at The Ohio State University. Currently the team is in the process of designing a brand new land speed vehicle. This new vehicle branded the Buckeye Bullet 3 is anticipated to be significantly faster than previous cars. In the summer of 2010, the team built a battery powered land speed streamliner (BB2.5), that broke the previous world record held by the Buckeye Bullet 1. Each of the vehicles are run on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.